The best thing you can do to strengthen your immune system is to make healthy lifestyle choices.
Getting enough sleep, keeping physically active, and having a nutrient-rich diet can all help during cold and flu season. When it comes to diet, there is no strong evidence that links one particular food to cold and flu prevention. However, there are a number of foods that are important for supporting a healthy immune system. Keep reading and stay on top of that!
GARLIC
Roasted in olive oil, it can melt in your mouth like butter, while chopped and raw, it can taste pungent and sharp. Either way, this herb-like vegetable offers significant benefits -on the inside and out. (Not to mention it’s delicious!). It’s the organic sulfur compound allicin in garlic that gives it its pungent smell and makes it a healthy addition to your diet.
Six surprising ways that garlic boosts your health:
1. Boosts immunity: those who routinely eat garlic, fruits and vegetables had a 35% lower colon cancer risk. Keep in mind that benefits came from raw and cooked garlic
2. Help reduce inflammation in respiratory allergies as well as clean mucous.
3. Improves cardiovascular health: Research indicates that it can have a positive impact on your arteries and blood pressure.
4. Gives you better hair and skin: Garlic’s antioxidants and antibacterial properties can clear up your skin by killing acne-causing bacteria.
5. Protects your food: Those same antibacterial properties in fresh garlic can kill the bacteria that lead to food poisoning, including salmonella and E.coli.
6. Treat athlete’s foot: Garlic is anti-microbial fighting bacteria, viral and fungal infections
BROCCOLI
Broccoli is a nutrient-packed powerhouse to support your immune system. One cup of broccoli provides as much vitamin C as an orange. The veggie is also high in beta-carotene, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and iron. Broccoli supplies an array of B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, and B6). Together, these vitamins and minerals help the immune system to run in top form. Another healthy compound offered up by broccoli: glutathione, the master antioxidant in the body.
RED PEPPER
Want even more vitamin C, add red peppers to your salad or pasta sauce. One medium-sized red bell pepper contains 152 milligrams of vitamin C, or enough to fulfill your RDA.
Peppers are also a great source of beta carotene, a precursor of vitamin A (retinol). Vitamin A is important for healthy skin, your mucous membranes and your immune system. Beta carotene helps keep your eyes and skin healthy, as well. One cooked pepper has 19 percent of your daily recommended amount of beta carotene.
CITRUS
Your body does not produce vitamin C, which means you need to get it daily to have enough to create healthy collagen (the building blocks for your skin and healing. Also, collagen is a building block for all connective tissue such as skin, muscle, tendons, and bone ). Also known as ascorbic acid, vitamin C is a water-soluble nutrient found in leafy greens and citrus, especially grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, and clementines. It acts as an antioxidant that contributes to the normal function of the immune system and building blocks for your skin healing and collagen formation.
GINGER
Since ages, ginger has been used for medicinal purposes, due to its rich nutritional properties. Even in several Ayurvedic medicines, ginger has been used as an active ingredient and this is due to the presence of Gingerol, an active component that makes ginger a perfect immunity booster. Apart from that, Ginger has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which help in keeping several ailments at bay and help fight infections.
